Posts in category Blog

A few hours mountain climbing turns a rogue and a saint into two roughly equal creatures. Weariness is the shortest path to equality and fraternity—and liberty is finally added by sleep. —Nietzsche
As a literary barbarian I first read these words in 2011. They are the intro to Johann’s blog which I checked out just before meeting [...]

Warning: This post is not about cycling or travel, but was wrote as an introduction to an old boys club earlier this week and meant as an ironic recap of my short nine years in the British Army. Its heavy on words, and light on photo’s but, just maybe some of my regular readers will like it . This is a part of my life I’ve kept in [...]

With Spring almost here its time to crawl back from under my blog free rock and share my plans for 2018.
Well, the short version of my plans is simple. Don’t finish last in the Bikepacking Trans Germany this July.
The long version:
The Bikepacking Trans Germany (BTG) is a self supported race across Germany. From Basel to Cape Arkona (R [...]

Almost a year since letting the cat out the bag about my fancy pants Low Carb Healthy Fat diet (>Maybe read this first<) and with gradually more readers, friends and family asking questions I thought it time to do an update with more info and tips. Once again if low carb doesn’t fit your belief system (nutrition is very close to r [...]

A shot fired at 6am and the first wave of the Drenthe 200 was off. I stood shivering gently for another 20 minutes waiting for wave three to start. My guts churning, toes cold and anticipation rising. I had no idea this racing thing could be so nerve racking, I was apprehesive of my ability to finish this now infamous 200km off road ride with [...]

The Race Across South Africa takes place in June/July each year. It is a 2300 km ( with a total cumulative ascent is over 37000 metres), non-stop, self-navigated mountain bike race starting in Pietermaritzburg KwaZulu-Natal and ending in Wellington near Cape Town. Riders are allowed a maximum of 26 days to complete the ride.
For year [...]

The merits of a Low Carb Healthy Fat diet for cycle touring.
Note 1 : If you’re totally convinced that you need carbs for sport and blindly follow government guide lines on diet and ” Science” and have no intentions of entertaining a different theory, you may want to quickly leave and save yourself some time. If you have Ly [...]

Ever sat in the office and ask yourself ” How far could I cycle this weekend and be home for dinner on Sunday?”
Well I have, and often. I’m smack bang in the middle of a busy summer at work, sick of looking at smelly noisy planes, not cycling enough (mainly due to a recent knee infection) not camping enough and desperately m [...]

Just a couple of days until I fly to Spain to cycle about 1200km (3 weeks) of the Trans-Andalusia mountainbike trail.
This is my provisional packing list, based on wild camping down to about freezing point.
List is excluding on bike cloths
1. Front roll/harness (2.8kg) : Msr Hubba 1p tent (only outer tent and footprint), Thermarest neo air m [...]

When I recently mentioned on a forum that I’d “rescued” the frame for my new bike someone wrote:
” I think most of us are still reeling from the fact such a thing of beauty could in any way be rescued…
it’s like the start of a fairy story, we want to know more, were there dragons involved…”
So [...]

I’d booked the Ijmuiden-Newcastle ferry a week earlier and hadn’t been disappointed by the price. After another summer season working more than I’d like to I was ready to hit the road again. Lacking inspiration, funds and interest for a far away or long trip I went for something closer to home and the fact I hadn’t vis [...]

December 2013 I took the next step in my winter cycle touring experiment by heading to Canada to attempt to cycle the Trans Labrador highway. The Trans Lab claims to be one of the longest stretches of road in Canada without services.
This winter had the coldest December in more than 10 years, bringing with it extreme winds and temperatures [...]